Box Score New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team earned its first home win of the season Thursday after defeating visiting Mount Saint Mary College, 69-45.
The Hawks (6-4 overall) took advantage of early turnovers by the Knights (8-4 overall), scoring 12 points off 13 Mount Saint Mary miscues to help build a 16-point cushion heading into halftime.
"We struggled putting the ball in the basket early. We could have really opened it up if we made some 3's in the first quarter, but overall I was pleased," said Hawks coach
Jamie Seward. "I thought overall our effort in the first half was pretty good and we got them to play out of control and force some turnovers. Again if we made some shots we could have made a much bigger lead, but I was pretty pleased with the first half."
The Knights were without leading scorer and starting center, 6-foot senior Kayla Cleare, and 5'11 starting senior forward Elizabeth Limonta on the night. They missed Cleare and Limonta's size in the paint, as SUNY New Paltz grabbed 43 boards to just 36 by Mount Saint Mary. The difference on the glass and the turnover battle gave the Hawks the first-half edge, despite shooting just 28 percent from the field, including 21 percent from 3-point range.
"Credit to their kids who stepped up in their absence, but we knew we had a team that had limited options to score and the bread and butter of their team was those two big kids," Seward said. "Not having them allowed us to be more aggressive and gamble a little bit knowing that on the back end they weren't there to finish or get offensive rebounds. That definitely played a big role as well."
The Hawks had a solid start to the second half, as they took their largest lead of the game midway through the third following a 7-3 run, which was capped off with a
Marion Dietz bucket.
However, Mount Saint Mary continued to battle and cut the deficit to nine early in the fourth quarter. The run started at the end of the third quarter, as the Knights knocked down three-straight trey's in the final two minutes of the quarter. They headed into the fourth on a 7-0 run, which it extended to 12 early in final period. Katie Smith capped off the stretch with a made jumper to cut the deficit for the Knights, 51-42.
"I thought we got off to a pretty good start to the third quarter. We just again, couldn't put the ball in the basket. But then we made some substitutions and our effort just trailed off," Seward said. "They hit three consecutive 3's and all on plays that we had less than the necessary effort level we have been talking about making more consistently. As I told the team, when you have momentum going against you it is hard to stop that train from rolling downhill as fast as we allowed it to get going."
Mental lapses was what plagued SUNY New Paltz in its most recent loss to Cabrini University Dec. 30, and frustrated by another stretch of lack of effort, Seward immediately called back-to-back timeouts just two minutes into the fourth to regroup his team.
"What we talked about in those timeouts was how we were going back to what we did on Sunday in our loss against Cabrini and that we needed to step up defensively, and not rely on our shots offensively," Dietz said. "When Mount Saint Mary when on their run it was because we were lapsing defensively and if we play a good team, especially in our conference, they're going to take major advantage of that lapse. So, we really need to focus on not having that lapse and not giving that team the chance to come back into a game that we should have control of."
With Mount Saint Mary still hanging around on the verge of a come-back, Seward subbed in junior forward
Brianna Alberga, who totaled just 11 minutes leading into the game, for a spark off the bench. Alberga made an immediate impact on the floor and swung momentum back to SUNY New Paltz.
"Bri came in those last five minutes and was a huge difference maker for us," Dietz said. "She was active, she was getting blocks, getting tips and creating transition opportunities for us to get going."
Registering eight minutes of action, Alberga was pivotal in allowing the Hawks to open the game back up and re-establish their large cushion. She finished the night going 1-for-2 from the floor with four rebounds, an assist and a block.
"I've been coaching college basketball for almost 20 years now and what I saw there, you don't see very often. Someone who hasn't really played in a while, didn't play the entire game, 34 minutes into the game and hasn't gone in, and then you call on her and not only is she ready to play, but she went out there and really turned the tide," Seward said. "She's got a very unique skill set defensively and she has the ability to rebound and score in the paint and that is something that we can use. She can be a really unique and valuable defender. Hopefully that is something she builds on, because that was a really impressive performance and that really turned the tide back in our favor."
Alberga set the tone on the defensive side for SUNY New Paltz, while Dietz took over on the offensive end, draining three of her last four attempts, with all three buckets coming from 3-point range to put the game away.
"[Alberga] did a great job defending the post... [she] deflected a couple balls that led to turnovers. She guarded the ball well off some switches on ball screens, blocked a shot. She just seemed like she was all over the place and then Marion got hot and that allowed us to gain some traction after we are doing a good job on the defensive end to open the game back up," Seward said. "Really impressive performance out of Bri. It's something you don't see very often and I would say that was the best stretch of basketball, definitely the best stretch of basketball defensively that she has ever played."
After recording a season-high in the Hawks' previous game against Delaware Valley University, Dietz bested the total, finishing with a career-high 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field, including 5-for-10 from 3-point range, while adding five rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Bettke and
Rachel Simon followed offensively for SUNY New Paltz, each finishing with 14 points apiece. Bettke added five assists and a steal, while Simon registered six rebounds, a block and a steal.
The Hawks hope to play more consistently as the season progresses down the stretch, while limiting the lapses of effort during stretches in games. They'll have the opportunity to improve their play as they return to conference matchups next week, taking on Oswego State on the road Tuesday before hosting The College at Brockport and SUNY Geneseo Jan. 11 and 12.
"This intersession we start with a couple practices a day now starting tomorrow and we just need to find our grit and our grind, and learn how to play every play with great effort," Seward said. "This next couple of weeks, are we able to take the time that we have and truly utilize it? If we are able to, that is going to lead us forward, not an end of a game. It is going to be, can we learn how to make that high level effort day-in and day-out? And like I said, we have the opportunity to work on that with this intersession. That is going to be really the determining factor of the trajectory of where this team goes moving forward."
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